How does sugar affect my child?

Why does added sugar affect my child so much?

Let’s start by figuring out exactly what added sugar is. Some of the  major sources are regular soft drinks, sugars, candy, cakes, cookies, pies, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, milk products and other grains.

But why are so many becoming concerned with added sugar? It seems like anywhere you go right now there is someone or some product/commercial talking about “NO artificial sweetener”, “NO High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS)”, “NO added sugar” and many more claims. It seems that sugar has become a staple in our family’s diet over the last few decades.

How is sugar affecting your child?

It can cause many of your child’s behaviors to be unrecognizable and unbearable at times. “You will see these things in your sugar sensitive children even if they don’t have words for them; feeling inadequate, having low self-esteem, feeling victimized, taking things personally, feeling that life is out of control, feeling overwhelmed, overreacting to criticism, living in the ‘twilight zone’.” (DesMaisons, 2004) It has also been proven in several studies to cause obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and tooth decay.

But what if we have been approaching the “sugar epidemic” all wrong. What if its not because of the sugar they are having these problems, but yet because of the lack of sugar their bodies have during certain points of the day.

I’m sure you have heard a parent or two say “if my kids eat that they will be bouncing off the walls”. But that’s not the case at all. Instead of their body reacting to a sugar over load and causing them to become hyper, their body is going through a sugar withdrawal. Some experts even go so far as to call it an “addiction”. “As it turns out, sugar isn't as harmless as we once thought; at least not in the volume we're consuming it.” (Sack, D. 2013)

What if this ingredient we feed our families several times a day is really harming their development both mentally and physically? Would you continue feeding it to your family because these food products are convenient?

“The American Heart Association recommends that children consume 3 to 8 teaspoons of added sugar per day, depending on their age and daily caloric intake. Yet children as young as 1 year already consume three to four times the daily recommendation. By 4 to 8 years old, children are consuming an average of 21 teaspoons of sugar daily, and the average teenager consumes about 34 teaspoons each day -- even more than the average adult.”

Unless your child consumes a 100% organic/natural diet they are ingesting some sort of sugar product at some point. For some families this doesn’t seem like an option. Most of our lives move so fast we need easy and convenient, which usually means these food products are packed with added sugars. If this is all your children’s bodies are use to then the real reaction comes when they aren’t getting it anymore, or their blood sugar is low. This is causing; a sugar withdrawal.

“Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. Your brain also sees sugar as a reward, which makes you keep wanting more of it. If you often eat a lot of sugar, you're reinforcing that reward, which can make it tough to break the habit.” (WebMD)

So what can we do to stop our kids from experiencing a sugar withdrawal?

1.Educate your family:Find out how it is affecting your family by either doing the research yourself or enlisting in the help of a professional.

2.Have a Family  Meal/Snack Preparation at least once a week:Take an hour or two over the weekend to create prepackaged snacks and to prep anything that you may need for meals.

 

3.Teach the whole family how to read the ingredients label:Watch for these on the ingredient label; brown sugar, granulated sugar, high fructose corn syrup, powdered sugar, white sugar, sucrose. You will not eliminate all sugars from your house at once, just focus on only eating the others in moderation. Once you have eliminated these first ones, start eliminating some of the more unfamiliar ones.  (barley malt, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, cane juice, confectioners sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, date sugar, dextrin, dextrose, fructooliosaccharides, fructose, fruit juice concentration, galactose, glucose, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, malted barley, maltitol, maltose, mannitol, maple syrup, microcrystalline cellulose, molasses, polydextrose, raisin juice, raisin syrup, raw sugar, sorbitol, sucanat, sugar cane, turbinado sugar, xylitol.)

4.Don’t let it overwhelm your family:This isn’t an easy lifestyle change to make. Don’t get so overwhelmed that you give up and fall back to old habits. If one day your family has a few less healthy choices, just make sure that the following days you get back on track.

5.Use Sweet Fruits and Veggies to curb your families sweet tooth:The best way to do this is to use fruit as a dessert and veggies as a late night snack. You will find that eating these more sustainable foods may even help your family sleep better at night.

6. Allow your family to consume some sugar in moderation: It is important that your family isn’t having withdrawls to the point that when they are offered sugar they gorge. Make sure to allow them to have it in moderation and they may surprise you when they turn down a sweet treat knowing they already had their sugar for the day/week. This also allows you to control the kind of sugar they are putting in their body. Remember it isn’t ALL bad J 

It is so important that you include your family in this learning opportunity. You want to make sure that they understand why they can’t eat it and how it affects their tiny little bodies. They won’t always be with you for you to manage what they eat. Teach them to make healthy choices, or find a program/individual to help you educate them.  

Healthfully Yours, 
Lori Graham
Integrative Health Nutrition Coach